Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Sunday accused opposition parties of raising a false alarm over the deletion of voters from Bihar’s electoral list in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted ahead of the 2025 assembly elections. He said that during a tour of Bihar before last year’s assembly polls, opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, alleged that several voter names had been struck off illegally.
Choudhary added that no case of illegal deletion could be proved and that the opposition was creating a false alarm. He cited the SIR findings: 22.34 lakh voters were found dead, 36.28 lakh moved from one place to another, and seven lakh were registered at two places. These names were deleted, but no counter‑claims or applications were received.
The Election Commission has faced criticism after a news report highlighted disquiet within the poll panel over the pan‑India SIR. Opposition parties have demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with Rahul Gandhi alleging that the poll panel chief was appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to fix elections.
Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected at least 14 times in the past ten months to SIR decisions and orders issued without their knowledge or recommendation. Their objections covered changes to the statutory voter registration Form 6, handling of additions and deletions, and centralised control over the electoral roll database. The poll panel maintains that all SIR orders received unanimous consent from the three commissioners and that updates to Form 6 were upheld by the Supreme Court.
